Sermon Tone Analysis

\\                                                                               8-20-01 \\ \\ HOW TO LIVE A SALTY LIFE \\ LUKE 14:25-35 \\ \\ \\ INTRODUCTION: \\ How many people do you influence?

What kind of influence do you have on their lives?

It is probably more \\ people than you think.

Sociologist thinks that the average person’s sphere of influence includes 250 people.

\\ This means that if our city had a population of 62,500, you only need two people for passing a message to \\ every person in town by word of mouth.

If you tell all 250 people in your sphere of influence and they in turn tell \\ all 250 in theirs, then everyone in town will know what you talked about.

So with four people we could touch \\ every person in this city.

Indeed, with only four or five people we could touch the whole world.

We have more \\ influence than we think!

\\ \\ Jesus used salt to illustrate the power of influence.

He told His disciples that because of their relationship with \\ Him they were the salt of the earth.

He closed this extended section on discipleship with the affirmation that salt \\ is good, but then He added the word of caution and warning; “But if it loses it saltiness, how can it be made \\ salty again?

It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”

The salt that was ordinarily used \\ in Palestine in that day was actually taken from the Dead Sea.

The waters were allowed to evaporate leaving \\ the salt behind.

Unfortunately, the salt was not pure––it was mixed with other minerals.

There was a tendency \\ over time for the salt to lose its taste.

When the salt had lost its taste, it was no longer useful.

In fact, it had to \\ be handled very carefully.

About the only place that was appropriate to put it was on the pathway where you \\ didn’t want anything to grow.

If you mixed it with the manure pile it would corrupt the manure.

If you threw it out \\ in the field, nothing would grow there.

So you had to be careful about what you did with salt that had lost its \\ taste.

But Jesus is not concerned about salt, but rather He is concerned about disciples who have lost their \\ taste.

When a disciple loses her ability to influence the world around her for good, all of the purposes involved \\ in her being a disciple are null and void.

The life becomes useless in God’s kingdom purposes.

So, this raises a \\ question – how can we maintain a life that is salty?

How can we keep our influence so that our lives make it \\ easier for others to believe in God?

How can we have influence that will make it more difficult for evil to prevail \\ in the world?

Salt was both used to give taste as well as to retard the progress of corruption.

But when salt \\ loses its taste, it has lost its capacity to retard corruption and to add flavor.

\\ \\ If we see these statements about salt as being the climax of this discussion on discipleship, then the answer to \\ our question is rather obvious.

If we will hear what Jesus says about discipleship and do them, then, we will be \\ able to live a salty life.

What did He say?

Are you ready to hear it?

\\ \\ I.  LOVE JESUS MORE THAN YOU LOVE ANYONE.

\\ In one of the hardest things Jesus ever said, He makes this clear.

He said to the crowd that had gathered \\ around and may have been considering discipleship, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and \\ mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple.”

\\ What do these words mean?

They seem to be inappropriate for the one who was always encouraging love.

\\ Before you reject them listen again.

\\ \\ 1. Love Him more than family.

\\ The word that bothers us in this passage is the word “hate.”

And the context in which Jesus puts it.

Everything \\ we know from the Bible encourages us to honor and love the members of our family and yet Jesus calls on us \\ as a condition for being His disciple to hate the members of our family.

Are we hearing Him right?

Actually, \\ some of the newer translations have more appropriately translated the term into English.

The Living Bible and \\ the Contemporary Bible both translated “to love more.”

They indicate that what Jesus said is that we must love \\ Him more than we love our family.

He uses the word hate in a comparative sense.

We are to love Him so deeply \\ and so devoutly that it will exceed even our love for those humans that we love the most.

\\ \\ These words were important then and they are still important.

Unfortunately, it is family members who \\ sometimes discourage our devotion to Jesus.

There are many families in this community that will discourage \\ their children and grandchildren from becoming genuine disciples of Jesus.

If you are to love Him, you must \\ love Him more than you love these dearest ones.

This means that if you ever have to make a choice between \\ the will of Jesus and the desires of your family, then without hesitation, you choose the will of Jesus.

\\ (These words may not be as harsh as we make them sound.

When we meet Jesus, we have met one who can \\ do for us what our family could never do.

This statement reflects an awareness of the limitations of parents, of \\ husbands and wives, of brothers and sisters, and children.

While they bless us in many ways, we have needs \\ that they cannot meet.

Then we meet Jesus, and He meets the deepest need of our lives.

He gives to us a \\ whole new life.

Is it not appropriate that we love Him more than we love family?) \\ \\ 2. Love Him more than yourself.

\\ The first part of the statement is easy when compared with the second part of the statement.

In the second \\ part, Jesus says, “Yes, even his own life.”

So we must not only love Jesus more than we love our family, we \\ must love Jesus more than we love ourselves.

This means that if there comes a time when there is a decision to \\ be made and a choice to be exercised between the will of Jesus and my own desires, and then I choose the will \\ of Jesus.

I will not hesitate, if I am to be His follower, to put even life itself in jeopardy, if that is what Jesus wants \\ from me.

\\ \\ Now, the people who are going to influence our culture for good are people who love Jesus more than anyone \\ else.

That may sound simple, and it is, but it is not easy.

These other relationships are so personal and so real \\ that we sometimes struggle to make Jesus first in our devotion.

But when you put Jesus first in your love, those \\ 250 people that your life is influencing will begin to notice.

It will make it a whole lot easier to convince them that \\ they need Jesus if they see in you an unquestioned demonstration of love for Jesus that exceeds all other loves.

\\ \\ \\ (Again, I have received a fresh insight.

Have I not come to realize the limitations of my own life?

Am I not unable \\ to meet the deepest needs of my life?

Am I not unable to rid myself of guilt and give meaning to my life?

Has not \\ Jesus done for me what I could not do for myself?

Is it not appropriate that I love Him more than I love myself \\ since He has done so much for me?) \\ \\ II.

FOLLOW JESUS REGARDLESS OF THE COST.

\\ Jesus proceeded with another statement: “And if anyone does not carry his cross and follow me he cannot be \\ my disciple.”

This statement brings before us a demand that discipleship places upon us.

The demand is that \\ we follow Jesus anywhere, at any time, at any cost.

He sets this forth in those two simple statements.

\\ \\ 1. Carry your cross.

\\ We do not know as much about crosses as that first century world.

Crosses had become a part of their way of \\ life.

Wherever the Romans had gone in that ancient world and brought the rule of Rome to bear, they had \\ brought with them crosses.

They used crosses to put people to death who had broken the law.

They never put \\ Romans to death on crosses, but they put the people over which they had dominion to death on crosses when \\ they broke the Roman law.

So to bear one’s cross is to bear your means of death.

\\ \\ Even though they did not understand him, Jesus had already begun to speak to his disciples about His cross.

\\ And He did have His cross to bear.

After His trials in Jerusalem they placed His cross on His back and led Him \\ out to Calvary to be crucified.

Now Jesus is indicating that if you are to be His disciple then you must be willing \\ to bear your cross.

This is another dramatic way of saying that you must be dead to self.

You cannot pursue \\ your own will and desires and be His disciple.

You must be ready for a radical life of commitment and obedience \\ to Him.

It must be so radical that you will not draw back from any consequence that may come from following \\ Him.

\\ \\ Many of those early Christians would die a martyr’s death.